After Zhan Xueyuan's death, the Dao-Carrying Tower of the Taishi Library was sealed. Every day, there were officials from the Supreme Court standing guard outside, and no one was allowed to approach.
Zhan Xueyuan's body was taken back by a servant of the Zhan family in the capital. The Zhan family's ancestral home was in Jiangxi, and it would take at least a month for them to come to Anling after receiving the bad news.
According to the coroner's autopsy, Zhan Xueyuan died in the early morning of the 15th of July. The murder weapon was a rope, and near the well where her body was thrown, Jing Chen's scholar's lot had fallen.
Xue Rui personally took the statements of several students who were familiar with her and confirmed that the night before she was killed, Zhan Xueyuan did not return to the Zhan family's guesthouse in the capital, but stayed alone in the women's dormitory.
In addition, the gatekeeper of the library had seen Zhan Xueyuan enter the top floor with the scholar's lot.
The guards in charge of patrolling the courtyard unanimously said that in the early morning of the day of the crime, they did not see any suspicious people near the Dao-Carrying Tower.
Other than that, there were no other reliable clues.
As for the two biggest suspects, the servant who discovered the corpse and the gatekeeper who hid it, there were people who could prove that they were not there.
The gatekeeper was already in his fifties and didn't look like someone who could carry a heavy load. The servant who swept the floor was a skinny and dry young man.
Thus, this became another unsolved case.
Xue Rui came to the Taishi Library again that morning with only one constable. He entered the library and slowly went from the first floor to the third floor.
There were rows of bookshelves and cabinets on each floor. It was too easy for the murderer to hide among them without being discovered.
According to his speculation, Zhan Xueyuan had sneaked in before dawn. Then the murderer, who had hidden behind a bookshelf, attacked her from behind, strangled her with a rope, and carried her body downstairs. Throwing her body into the well to delay the time when the body was found and find a chance to escape.
There were many suspicious points in this. For example, there was a lock outside the library, and the key was with the gatekeeper. The library would only open after seven to allow students to enter. How did Zhan Xueyuan enter without a sound?
For example, where did Zhan Xueyuan get the academician's signature from Jing Chen? Did she sneak into Tibet to find something?
These questions could only be answered by the dead Zhan Xueyuan. However, Xue Rui knew. It was the same as how Cao Youling was killed. Zhan Xueyuan was also lured to the crime scene by the murderer or his accomplice. And then kill them.
In these two cases, the murderer was frighteningly cautious, and there were no witnesses. The crime scene had been cleaned up neatly, and there was not a single footprint left on the ground. He could not find out what Zhan Xueyuan was looking for before he died.
Therefore, Xue Rui was sure that the academician's stick that fell by the well was not left behind by the murderer when he was moving the body. Instead, it was a clue that the murderer deliberately left behind, and it pointed to Jing Chen.
This time, it was not to shift the blame. The murderer's intention was to tell those who knew that he was killing because of the great calamity.
Once the emperor heard of such a secretive method, it was impossible for him not to be anxious. The biggest possibility was that he would arrange the marriage between Jing Chen and Yu Shu as soon as possible. In this way, Yu Shu would be completely exposed.
"Cautious, smart, and … .confident."
Xue Rui tried to figure out the characteristics of the murderer, and a vague image appeared in his mind. His eyes kept flashing, and he was actually a little excited.
It was said that meeting one's match is a happy thing in life. For him, meeting a smart and cunning murderer was also rare.
"Sir, did you find anything else?" The constable asked expectantly. Because of this case, the few of them had not been able to sleep well for several days.
Xue Rui stood by the window on the third floor and looked down. He just happened to see the well. He turned his head and said to his subordinate: "This place has been checked inside and out. There is no other suspicious place. Tomorrow, remove the ban. There is no need to send people to guard it."
"This, yes."
Xue Rui turned back and swept his eyes across the mountains of books in front of him. His eyes turned black, and he thought to himself: You hide well, wait for me to catch you.
***
Yu Shu went to the newly built Jing Wangfu and saw Liu Tan there.
She originally thought that Liu Tan found an excuse to rope in her, the Miaoling Messenger. Who knew that he really wanted her to look at the mansion. From the beginning to the end, it was all about geomancy and geomancy, and there was no other topic.
Yu Shu did not come in vain. Jing Wangfu's geomancy was definitely good. The Ministry of Works provided manpower and the Celestial Commissioner sent two Great Yi Masters who were proficient in geomancy to participate in the design of the mansion's geomancy. It was a standard mansion, not bad at all.
During this trip, she looked at the big and small courtyards. With Liu Tan's explanation, it was effortless for her to secretly learn a thing or two. Of course, Liu Tan only took her to see the layout of the outer courtyard. He wouldn't let her enter the inner courtyard.
"Lianfang, what do you think of the construction of ben wang's Jing Wangfu?"
"Wang ye asked me to come here, but I am embarrassed. In terms of arithmetic, there are not many in An Ling City who can compare to me. But in terms of geomancy, I am not even good enough to carry the shoes of the masters." Yu Shu shook her head self-deprecatingly.
Ever since that incident on Chinese Valentine's Day, she didn't pretend to be so distant and polite in front of Liu Tan. After all, he was her best friend's future husband. As long as Liu Tan didn't try to recruit her as a younger brother, there was no harm in being polite.
Liu Tan smiled slightly: "But your ability to call the wind and summon the rain, no one in the world can do that."
"You can't say it like that, there's still my shifu."
"Your shifu is probably an immortal, how can he be compared to mortals."
Yu Shu didn't have the patience to flatter anyone and said: "Wang ye has been recuperating on Mount Longhu, how many old immortals have you seen? I've often heard people say that the old spiritual masters of that sect, some have lived for hundreds of years."
Liu Tan shook his head, "How can there be hundreds of years? The oldest elder of the sect only passed his ninety-ninth birthday last year."
Yu Shu really wanted to ask him about what happened on Mount Longhu, but she was afraid that Liu Tan would sense something, so she changed the topic.
The two chatted for a while, and a servant came over to whisper something. Liu Tan's expression changed, and he turned to Yu Shu and said apologetically: "I originally wanted to invite cousin to have lunch with you and taste the live fish sent from the south this morning, but there is an urgent matter, so ben wang has to go out."
Yu Shu tactfully said: "Wang ye, if you have something to do, you can go. I'll go back now. Zuo Da Ge is investigating a case, so he probably won't have time to eat and drink with us."
She took her leave. Liu Tan wanted to personally see her off, but Yu Shu refused and was sent out by the steward.
As soon as she left, Liu Tan frowned and turned to ask the servant: "Tell me what happened just now again."
The servant lowered his head and said: "Someone saw the Eleventh Prince in a Chu compound on Qianyuan Street last night."
Liu Tan's expression was uncertain. In the case of the headless imperial envoy, Liu Yi had lost to Ning Wang's craftiness and had been driven out of the capital by Emperor Zhao Qing in a fit of anger. It had only been a few days, and he had come back in defiance of the imperial edict?
As for Ning Wang, he was probably still "obediently" facing the wall in Ning Wang Fu.
"Master?"
"Send someone to invite Sir Situ over from the compound."
"Yes."
"Then send someone to Qianyuan Street to keep watch and confirm."
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